On Writing: Beginning Again

(#1 of 4 quick reads)

For some writers, or aspiring authors, the hardest part is simply beginning. Picking up a pen, opening a laptop, and putting down the first words.

Some call it writer’s block.
For years, I claimed I never suffered from it — that it was a myth. Anne Lamott’s great book on writing, Bird by Bird, had convinced me of that. Her chapter, “Shitty First Drafts,” made perfect sense: accept that your initial attempt will be rough — perhaps even shitty — but write it anyway. Get it down, knowing that no one will read it until you’ve revised, refined, and shaped it into something worthwhile. No fear. No roadblocks.

Because I rejected the notion of writer’s block, I never imagined I would go years without writing a story.
Yet here I am. Three and a half years later. (Some of you might think, ‘Wait wasn’t Acts of Resistance released in 2023?’ It was, but I finished the final draft in late 2021–that’s how slow the publishing process can be!).

My compulsion to write has been on hold, and for one reason alone: time. Or more accurately, the absence of it.

Not coincidentally, my daughter is now three years and three months old. But she isn’t the reason — I am. Parenthood reshapes life in ways you couldn’t have imagined. My schedule transformed overnight, and free time became a thing of the past. Even vacations weren’t vacations anymore. And in the whirlwind of watching my daughter grow — learning to walk, talk, joke, and even negotiate — I didn’t figure out how to carve out time to write.

I was never a regimented writer. I didn’t have a strict schedule of one or two hours a day at a set time. My process was intermittent — writing in long bursts of a day or two, followed by days or weeks away from the page. That rhythm no longer fits my reality. Extended, uninterrupted hours and hours? Gone. And there’s no one to hold accountable but myself when my creative pursuits are deferred.

So, it’s time to adjust. Find the moments — even if it’s just 30 minutes. Write, even if it’s terrible. Throw some words on a page, because if I don’t, I might just lose my mind.

What might be harder than starting?
Beginning again.